National Center for Atmospheric Research

Office of the NCAR Director303-497-1110
Director: Timothy Killeen

Advanced Study Program (ASP)303-497-1602
Director: William (Al) Cooper
Sponsors recent Ph.D. scientists and students in Ph.D. programs,
bringing them to NCAR to expand their own studies and enrich the
center's research. ASP also offers seminars, workshops, and colloquia on
areas of particular importance to the atmospheric sciences.

Atmospheric Chemistry Division (ACD)303-497-1401
Director: Daniel McKenna
Focuses on global- and regional-scale air quality and problems related
to the complex interactions among the oceans, ecosystems, and
atmosphere. Researchers study the cycles of chemicals in the atmosphere,
ways in which the composition of the air evolves, and the impact of
human activities on atmospheric chemistry.

Atmospheric Technology Division (ATD)303-497-8833
Director: David Carlson
Provides observing facilities and instrumentation, including advanced
radars, research aircraft, flux measurement systems, and integrated
sounding systems, to researchers in the atmospheric and related
sciences. These facilities allow investigators around the globe to
gather raw data required for their research programs.

Climate and Global Dynamics Division (CGD)303-497-1320
Director: Maurice Blackmon
Contributes to better prediction of weather and climate through the
development of models that promote understanding of the physical causes
of past, present, and future climates and large-scale atmospheric and
oceanic dynamics.

Environmental and Societal Impacts Group (ESIG)303-497-8117
Director: Robert Harriss
Improves understanding of the interactions among the atmosphere,
environmental processes, and society and communicates information
related to atmospheric science to a broad community of researchers and
decision makers through research and workshops. ESIG staff assess how
societies might better understand and cope with severe weather and
climate shifts.

High Altitude Observatory (HAO)303-497-1527
Director: Michael Knölker
Carries out research into the solar interior, the influence of magnetic
fields on the structure and dynamics of the solar atmosphere, and the
links between the variable solar output and Earth's magnetosphere and
outer atmosphere. Because some solar changes influence Earth's space
environment and its climate, understanding solar variability is
fundamental to understanding and potentially predicting the variability
of Earth's atmosphere.

Mesoscale and Microscale Meteorology Division
(MMM)303-497-8908
Director: Robert Gall
Investigates the basic physical processes that govern the weather: how
the atmosphere and Earth receive incoming radiation, scatter and absorb
it, and retransmit it; how weather and climate are affected by terrain
and the characteristics of soil and vegetation; how severe storm systems
develop and die; and how precipitation processes occur.

Research Applications Program (RAP)303-497-8390
Director: Brant Foote
Conducts directed research on disruptive phenomena such as
thunderstorms, icing conditions, snowstorms, and turbulence and
transfers relevant technology to such weather-sensitive activities as
aviation, water resource management, agriculture, and surface and marine
transportation.

Scientific Computing Division (SCD)303-497-1272
Director: Al Kellie
Provides supercomputing resources, scientific visualization tools and
facilities, high-speed networks, and associated data-processing
capabilities on a variety of computing machines. In close collaboration
with other NCAR divisions, SCD assists in advancing atmospheric research
across a broad front. SCD's data archives included over 250 terabytes as
of mid-2000. Its computing center provides over 70 gigaflops of
sustained supercomputing power for university and NCAR scientists.

Cooperative Program for Operational Meteorology, Education
and Training (COMET®)303-497-8470
Director: Timothy Spangler
Improves the weather services of the nation by involving research
scientists and academic scholars in the continuing education of weather
forecasters and the development of new forecast techniques. The
COMET® Program offers courses, symposia, and workshops and produces
interactive, computer-based learning systems.

GPS Science and Technology Program (GST)303-497-8045
Director: Randolph (Stick) Ware
Investigates ground- and satellite-based Global Positioning System (GPS)
data as a tool for observing the atmosphere. The University NAVSTAR
Consortium (UNAVCO) within GST provides technical support and equipment
to investigators using GPS measurements to better understand such
phenomena as earthquakes and volcanoes.

Information Infrastructure Technology and Applications
(IITA)303-497-8697
Director: Richard Chinman
Increases coherence, as viewed by users, of data services and related
efforts across all of UCAR and does so with methods that can be applied
outside the organization, especially at universities engaged in
producing and managing data. The IITA is a joint UCAR/NCAR/UOP
effort.

Joint Office for Science Support (JOSS)303-497-8683
Director: Karyn Sawyer
Provides scientific, technical, and administrative support services to
the research community for planning, organizing, and implementing
research programs and associated field projects worldwide. Most JOSS
services and products fall in three broad categories: (1) community
support, including planning advice, meeting management, program office
administration, publications, and visitor programs; (2) field program
support, including program planning and design, site surveys, and field
operation logistics and management; and (3) data management, including
system design and the collection, quality control, formatting, and
customized delivery of scientific project data.

Digital Library for Earth System Education (DLESE) Program
Center303-497-8354
Director: Mary Marlino
This community-governed facility is designed to offer educators and
learners easy access to high-quality information, tools, and services
that facilitate learning about Earth at all educational levels. DLESE
will include peer-reviewed collections of instructional materials,
interfaces to data sets, and computer- and human-mediated services for
collaboration and sharing.

Unidata Program Center303-497-8644
Director: David Fulker
Helps over 160 university departments, working as a community, to
acquire and use atmospheric and other geophysical data for research and
teaching, along with software tailored for visualization and analysis of
these data.

Visiting Scientist Programs (VSP)303-497-8627
Director: Meg Austin
Operates programs designed to support and broaden education and research
in the atmospheric, oceanic, and related sciences through fellowships to
researchers at graduate, postgraduate, and more advanced levels. VSP
also supports advisory panels and review teams, workshops, and summer
institutes for the university community and federal agency sponsors.

Other UCAR Activities

Significant Opportunities in Atmospheric Research and Science
(SOARS)303-497-8623
Director: Thomas Windham
Conducts a ten-week summer program at NCAR and other national
laboratories as part of a four-year undergraduate and graduate program
designed to increase the diversity of students pursuing careers in the
atmospheric and related sciences. SOARS was established by UCAR through
partnership with NSF. Other program sponsors include the U.S. Department
of Energy, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the UCAR university
community.

Office of Development and Government Affairs303-497-2102
Director: Cynthia Schmidt
Monitors the activities of the U.S. Congress and keeps the UCAR
community informed on budgetary, legislative, and policy developments
involving UCAR, NCAR, UOP, NSF, and other agencies of importance to the
atmospheric and related sciences. Promotes the growth and well-being of
UCAR's programs and activities by supporting grant-seeking activities in
the public and private sectors, assisting with educational project
development, and supporting UCAR-affiliated programs that pursue
environmental, social, and economic sustainability. The latter include
the Science Policy Roundtable, supported by the MacArthur Foundation,
and RECOUP: Industrial Ecology Project. Both are projects of the Walter
Orr Roberts Institute.

UCAR Foundation303-497-8898
President: R.C. Mercure
Acts as UCAR's exclusive agent for commercial endeavors. The nonprofit
UCAR Foundation includes officers and a board of directors drawn from
UCAR, universities, and the private sector. Revenue flows to the
foundation through equity positions, license fees, and royalties on the
sales of resulting commercial products. A substantial portion of the
revenue generated is returned to UCAR for the advancement of its
scientific programs.

UCAR goals

Sciencefoster a broad scientific program of highest
quality to address present and future needs of society

Research facilitiesdevelop and acquire
state-of-the-art scientific research facilities for the atmospheric and
related sciences community

Education and trainingdevote significant attention
to education and training, with emphasis on women and minorities

Advocacy, public policy, and communicationin
cooperation with other institutions, play a strong role in developing
enhanced and more effective methods of communication among scientists,
policymakers, and the public in order to foster the use of science in
the service of humankind

Technology transferin conjunction with the UCAR
Foundation, transfer appropriate UCAR technology to the public and
private sectors

Research and operational partnershipsstrengthen the
relationship between the operational and research communities in the
atmospheric and oceanic sciences.

Major sponsors of NCAR and UOP activities

The National Science Foundation has historically provided the base
funding for NCAR and more than half of the funding for all UCAR
activities. In addition, these agencies, listed below in alphabetical
order, have provided critical support of certain programs and
activities, leveraging the NSF base support:

Federal Aviation Administration
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
U.S. Department of Defense
U.S. Department of Energy
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

UCAR Member Institutions

University of Alabama in Huntsville (1992)
University of Alaska Fairbanks (1964)
*University of Arizona (1959)
California Institute of Technology (1971)
University of California, Davis (1983)
University of California, Irvine (1986)
*University of California, Los Angeles (1959)
*University of Chicago (1959)
Colorado State University (1964)
University of Colorado (1964)
*Cornell University (1959)
University of Denver (1966)
Drexel University (1973)
*Florida State University (1959)
Georgia Institute of Technology (1983)
Harvard University (1970)
University of Hawaii (1965)
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (1970)
Iowa State University (1973)
University of Iowa (1993)
*Johns Hopkins University (1959)
University of Maryland at College Park (1967)
*Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1959)
McGill University (1971)
University of Miami (1968)
*University of Michigan (1959)
University of Minnesota (1965)
University of Missouri (1968)
Naval Postgraduate School (1983)
University of Nebraska-Lincoln (1979)
University of Nevada (1971)
University of New Hampshire (1991)
New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (1973)
*New York University (1959)
University at Albany, State University of New York (1970)
North Carolina State University (1978)
Ohio State University (1972)
University of Oklahoma (1966)
Old Dominion University (1988)
Oregon State University (1971)
*Pennsylvania State University (1959)
Princeton University (1981)
Purdue University (1971)
University of Rhode Island (1985)
Rice University (1972)
*Saint Louis University (1959)
Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego
(1982)
Stanford University (1973)
*Texas A&M University (1959)
University of Texas at Austin (1964)
Texas Tech University (1997)
University of Toronto (1970)
Utah State University (1971)
University of Utah (1964)
University of Virginia (1979)
Washington State University (1986)
*University of Washington (1959)
*University of Wisconsin-Madison (1959)
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (1979)
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (1973)
University of Wyoming (1976)
Yale University (1984)
York University (1996)

* = founding member

UCAR Academic Affiliates

Air Force Institute of Technology (1998)
University of Charleston (1993)
City College of New York (1991)
Clark Atlanta University (1993)
Dalhousie University (2000)
Jackson State University (1990)
University of Kansas (1991)
Lyndon State College (1991)
Universidad Metropolitana (1996)
Millersville University of Pennsylvania (1990)
State University of New York at Brockport (1991)
University of North Dakota (1990)
University of Louisiana at Monroe (1992)
Plymouth State College (1992)
Rhodes College (1993)
Rutgers University (1992)
St. Cloud State University (1992)
San Francisco State University (1992)
San Jose State University (1990)
South Dakota School of Mines and Technology (1990)
U. S. Naval Academy (1991)